Cast versus jacketed

[beekeeper]

I have not shot jacketed in approx 10 years.
With my new 6.5 Creedmoor rifle it is all jacketed.
It is almost a complete new learning curve after shooting cast for so long.
Tried some recommended shortcuts loading jacketed and it was a complete failure so I am going back to the old ways and just drop a couple of steps I took with cast.

It is like learning reloading all over again.


beekeeper

[RBHarter]

There's a tag line somewhere something to the effect of "the more I learn about cast the more I see is wrong about everything I knew about jacketed".

Open the book drop a start load break the window into 10 steps ,watch the groups close and open , split the 3 smallest groups into 1/10 gr loads shoot 5 shot groups select the 3 smallest groups ,name them winter , spring/fall and summer .

If you care to venture into paper patch the NOE 260-120 FP works well in the little bit that I worked it in a 264 WM, kind of light but capable of rock chuck accuracy to 400 yd .

[Maximumbob54]

To me some of it is the same and some of it is the direct opposite. With cast I find that the bullet riding just a bit into the rifling gives the best accuracy while jacketed they need to be just off the lands and absolutely no more than kissing them if there is any contact at all. And with either one the highest velocity loads are hardly ever the most accurate while somewhere in the middle is usually the sweet spot for accuracy. Again for both, something like an M-die either Lyman or NOE will offer the best neck concentricity during seating. Wait. Is that the right word? Spell check is blasting me and doesn't know what I'm talking about.

[beekeeper]

Took the custom built Creedmoor to the range for the second time today
140 grain Berger VLD Target bullets. 5 thousandths off the lands and will hold 3/4 inch at 600 meters.
Not bad for an old man with bad eyes.
Next time will try for 889 meters which is as far as our range goes.

With lead out of a 7X57 MM Mauser and a new Green Mountain barrel using the Lee c284-130-2R I am holding 1 inch at 100meters and 1 1/2 inch at 200 meters.
Thee Lees are 15 thousandths off the lands
Do not understand why this rifle hates the NOE 7MM Bore Rider and shoots so well with the Lee


beekeeper

[horseman]

All I can say is you're waaaaaay outa my league. Very impressive. Keep it up....

[Ranch Dog]

Too me, there just isn't much to getting a jacketed bullet to shoot well. Here is a good case in point. In 2003, I loaded some Speer .358" 180-grain (#2435) bullets on top of H4895 for a fellow that was traveling down to Texas from the eastern seaboard. During his visit he wanted to try to kill a javelina and a feral hog so I figured my little Marlin 336D, a special run Guide Gun chambered in 35 Rem, would be just the ticket. All that worked out well and those loaded rounds have sat on my shelf since the day he left.

In another topic, 30 Caliber Blues, we are talking about aging cast bullet and the hassle a couple of us are experiencing and here is one huge difference between cast & jacketed. With the cast, I took bullets that had shot well in other 35 Rems but where a disaster when tried in the Rem 600. The problem was that over a few years the BHN of the bullet, the hardness, dropped from 21 to 14. A BHN of 14 does not support much pressure being applied to the bullet.

So, with a hunt coming up that I wanted to use the Rem 600 this old box of ammo was pulled off the shelf.

Speer_2435_load.jpg

Notice the precision that this was loaded with I didn't bother weighing the charges, just used the double Auto Disk to drop them. In my load notebook I just wanted a charge that would deliver 2000 FPS and that is what they chronographed in the Marlin 336. Funny thing is that I ran them for the Rem 600 in QuickLoad and that is the velocity that the program calculated!

I zeroed out the scope from all the adjustments my cast bullets put it through and shot the rifle at 25 yards. It was pretty much on the money so I shot it three times at 50 yards.

R600_2435_380_H4895_50YDS.jpg

I made an adjustment and shot another three at 100 yards. There are two bullets in the same hole.

R600_2435_380_H4895_100YDS.jpg

I ran the ballistics real quick for a 2" point blank range and the software spit out that it would be 6.42" low at 200 yards. I have an 8" gong out there so I tried to hold about 2" high on it.

R600_2435_380_H4895_200YDS.jpg

Honestly it did fine considering the wind, frontal system moving through. I went ahead and ordered some more of these bullets from Grafs & Sons, I actually thought I had more somewhere but never could find them. I didn't want to shoot anymore out of the box of 20 until I have more behind them. I'm actually going to push them up to 2400 FPS for use in the Rem 600. This jacketed bullet shooting is sure easy and I love the little Remington!

R600_2435_sightin.jpg

My Black & Decker oven just arrived so now I will cast some of my TLC359-180-RF bullets and treat them to the new machine. Everything that takes place with this effort will not be with the same ease. Wonder why I do this cast stuff sometimes. I guess I don't like paying 33¢ vs. 6¢ for cast.